1&1 Internet – file this under complaints about 1and1.com


1and1I am writing about a company called 1&1 which has a web site at 1and1.com and about their preposterous cancellation policies. I cancelled service with them back in October after subscribing for a short period of time to use their hosted exchange service. I used the online cancellation system, followed all of the procedures to a T including sending in a signed cancellation fax.

Today I call up to ask why I was still being charged and immediately the person on the other end gets all defensive and claims I didn’t send the fax (which I did). But he had record of my original cancellation request.

The fact that they never processed my fax doesn’t make a difference. Now they want me to prove to them that I sent my fax. Audacious!

I called back to speak with another person and received even worse treatment. I am angry at 1&1.

Update: It looks as though others have reported this same issue


95 responses to “1&1 Internet – file this under complaints about 1and1.com”

  1. On sunday a customer rep from 1and1 walked me through changing my password. All 400 emails from my buisness account vanished. The complaints and customer service departments won’t return my emails or address the situation. I envision an ostrich with its head in a hole. Stay away from 1and1.com. I’m moving my domains and website to a much better company.

  2. Today I just opened up two letters from 1&1’s wonderful collection agency saying I owe them money (~$50 total) About a year ago I did a domain name and hosting through them (my first time publishing a site) Since then I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing until these letters arrived. A quick google search enlightened me that my story of an expired credit card, no attempt of contacting the customer, and going right to their collection agency was far too common.

    So, what’s the best way to deal with this scam artist of a company? Am I pretty much screwed and need to pay up? And whats the proven method on how to eventually completely cancel out my account so I never have to deal with them again??

  3. I don’t know if this is standard policy amongst site providers (can anyone tell me), but apparently all 1and1 support personel have access to our passwords. I thought my information was supposed to be private. When I asked them about this, they told me it was to verify my identity.

    They have a ton of personal information of mine to verify my identity on the phone. Why do they need to give any guy/girl off the street who happens to get a job with them access to my privacy?

  4. 1 & 1 Internet is a horrible company, but some recourse is possible! Not only am I a very disgruntled customer after they lied to me repeatedly after reselling a name I had registered and paid for with them, but I am an investigative journalist. In the last 8 months, I have written more than 30 articles, interviewed more than 200 people who have been blatantly wronged by 1 & 1 Internet, talked to several consumer groups and interested attorneys, and worked with over 60 radio and TV stations on this story. Everyone has been very interested, and the investigation continues. If you have had an issue with the company, you can do the following make a difference, and get your justice:

    1.) File a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office at http://www.pa.gov, or call the investigator Madelaine Dakour directly at (215) 560-6790. They have already received a large number of complaints, and have escalated the investigation, so make sure and contact them.
    2.) File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau where they already have a completely Unsatisfactory rating by going to http://www.bbb.org
    3.) File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov
    4.) File a complaint with your state consumer advocacy group through the Attorney General’s office or Secretary of State’s office. Indiana’s is http://www.indianaconsumer.com
    5.) Explore your state’s legislative code and find out where they stand on mandatory arbitration clauses. The Federal Arbitration Act has been shot down by state courts if they find the 1 & 1 contract to be “unconscionable” and without “mutuality” as they offer nothing for the consumer. More and more courts are ruling in favor of consumers, especially with terms and conditions that allow for illegal activity. Breach of contract, fair trade laws, fraud, and consumer laws are the tip of the legal iceberg for 1 & 1.
    6.) I’m working with station affiliates of each of the major TV networks, and you can help by contacting your local station through the main sites at http://www.cbs.com, http://www.nbc.com, http://www.abc.com, and http://www.foxnews.com. Contact the investigative reporter, or simply send a news tip to the newsroom and they will follow up. Chances are, they are already aware of the major problems with the company.
    7.) Keep meticulous records!

    My lawsuit is pending, and I’ve been inundated with law firms wanting to take on the abysmal business practices, or lack thereof, with 1 & 1. The blatant disregard for the consumers has gotten the attention of the legal community, media, and consumers all across the country and by banding together, we can get some justice. You do not have to succumb to their tactics!

    Best wishes,
    Kelli J. Jack
    President
    Lines, Inc. Media
    8425 Woodfield Crossing Blvd.
    Suite #100
    Indianapolis, IN 46240
    (317) 469-7529

  5. hey man join the club. ive been doing tricks, jumping through hoops and sending fruitcake for christmas in order to get my domain privacy turned off so I can transfer my domains away from the horrible 1and1 .

    they renewed my domains on an expired credit card and then sent me to collections agency with no real notification (they even left my domains online for 3 months after expiry) . Any normal registrar turns off your service when a payment is declined.. but oooooohhh nooooooooo not 1and1.

    After paying their collection agency I had to wait 9 business days before they would remove the billing lock on my account.

    Here is the best part of all!!! I requested my AUTH INFO codes and to have my domains unlocked and domain privacy turned off so I can transfer them away. The wonderful support at 1and1 unlocked my domains and provided me with auth info codes BUT BUT BUT…. would not turn off domain privacy protection until I gave them a new credit card to update my billing profile. They refused to remove privacy until I did that. They essentially have held my domains hostage for no reason at all.

    I sent them exerpts from ICANN outlining how they are NOT allowed to deny transfer of my domains since I do not owe them any money.

    Thought I’d share my lovely experience with you. In the end I ended up giving them a credit card # just so I can be done with their shitty service. Im still waiting fro them to release the domains to the new registrar.

  6. i closed a Account i june 2008 and they never closed it and
    they tryed to bill me this may you need to file a Complaint
    with Federal Trade Commission i did.

  7. NEVER GOT WEBSITE WORKING AND CANCELLED TWICE- NOW HAVE BEENSENT TO COLLECTIONS- TIRED TO TALK TO CUSTOMER SEVICE- THEY ARE A JOKE

  8. I attempted to get hosting and one domain through 1and1 however after putting in my card details I though differently so clicked the red cross at top right of browser. The 1and1 system still took my account details and created an account. Not only that but proceeded to take money from my bank. I asked my bank to block them which they did. Now they have sent me to collection agency’s for a service i never used nor finished properly getting. I have also sent letters to cancel their having made the account without my full concent.
    I am in the UK and seeking other UK people to bring a Class Action against them. Please email to Angellizbeth2000@juno.com if you wish to be included and are prepared to face them down in court if necessary.
    Thank you.

  9. 1&1 has a terrible structure that makes it impossible to transfer out your domain. They keep it locked, and cancel your policy, then charge you $40 to reinstate the domain you already paid for, and then charge you for the domain again. Forget about customer service — they’re useless. Stay away at all costs — once you’re in their grip they’ll never let you go without fees and underhanded techniques.

  10. Here is a copy of an email I sent to 1&1 (but no doubt they will ignore it):
    Satisfied with your service? You must be joking. You renewed a domain name I do not require. You say you had it on automatic renewal, but at time of purchase this was not made clear – you did not give me the option to chose whether or not to have it on automatic renewal. When purchasing a domain, your website refers to a tick sheet that includes “automatic updates” – if this refers to “automatic domain renewals” then you should be ashamed of
    yourselves for using grossly misleading words. There is nothing on your website to indicate that the domain is on automatic renewal or how to disable this. My numerous attempts to bring all this to your attention have failed as I just get fobbed off and referred to a “complaints dept”. Please have the decency to refund me the charge of £10.56 or I will make a complaint to Paypal to recover the money. You simply cannot expect to deceive people by using dubious “inertia selling methods” and by not making the issue of automatic renewal absolutely clear. With godaddy this issue is absolutely clear and straightforward.
    Russell Eaton

  11. They are nothing but lying stealing disgusting crooks. They take the money and do not provide any thing for it

  12. After 7 years of problems with 1&1 asked for credit ( one month ) long
    story short they froze my website and basically told me to get lost.
    Pay up or you go to collection.
    Seems like with all the business accounts they host and the numerous times 1 & 1 drops the ball this should be class action case
    for damages to their customers. Wayne

  13. 1AND1.COM This is a fraudulent company and unformed. Not accredited by BBB (Better Business Bureau). Keep and not to delete your personal information and credit card. Billing is days after order with higher values than those agreed. Your domain can go in redemption period and finally you can lose your domains.

  14. I’ve been using 1and1.com to host a few websites for about 5 years now, and just a heads up for all of you who are looking for a good host, this has been a nightmare for me. Not only is website builder extremely quirky and inconsistent and full of program glitches, but even worse the tech support is the worst of any tech support I have worked with since my first website in 1995. 100% of the tech support folks speak English as a second language, and they typically don’t understand what you are saying very well. Even simple discussions demonstrate that they do not understand. They repeat things many times, and you will spend 20 minutes and get absolutely nowhere. If this happened to me once or even half a dozen times in 5 years, I would just pass it off as life, but this has happened to me probably over 100 times in 5 years. Yes, I know, I am extremely patient and gentle in working with non-English speaking techs, but I’ve really had it with the nonsense, the glitchy programs, the horrendous customer support. I’ve tried to talk to supervisors, but after being on hold for an eternity, I’m always told that the supervisors are busy. This is 1and1.com folks. This is not an isolated experience. This has been my experience for 5 years with multiple websites. Unfortunately, my main website cannot be transferred to any other company, because no one will accept a website built with that glitchy website builder program. My strong recommendation is never use 1and1.com. You will be truly frustrated and sorry like I am, and then you won’t be able to move your site like me.

  15. I have been a customer of 1 and 1 for five years. Last week i applied for cancellation since I am not happy with customer support, the glitchy system and they increase the price too.

    The problem is they will not approve my cancellation online if I will not call them.This is vey inconvenient and really bad customer service.

    I hope someone can tell me where to complaint on cases like this. Never use 1and1, everything sucks there.

  16. 1and1.com also refused to cancel my subscription when I asked them to. These people are a huge rip-off and are total jerks. Their web-site design engines suck and I was never able to use their services – and then could not get anyone to be able to cancel with other than just sending emails to the company.
    NEVER NEVER use 1and1.com

  17. I am glad to know that I am not the only person who is having major problems with this company. However it’s no consolation as 1&1 is making my life a living hell. I have been spending time on-line and on the phone to cancel my account from last year. Despite receiving an email informing me that my account was closed, 1&1 kept debiting my account. I sent many emails asking for my money back to no avail. Finally, I had no option than to change my account.

    Since 1&1 has sent my account to Arvato Collections in the UK. The first time Arvato spoke to me, I explained that I cancelled my account they said that I owed £70 that I should pay and then sort it out with1&1. Foolishly I paid them.

    Again I contacted 1&1 and again I had confirmation that my account was no longer active. However Arvato Collections has been hounding me everyday without failing.

    Can anyone please advise me on this? I am losing my mind.

  18. When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each
    time a comment is added I get three e-mails with the same comment.
    Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
    Many thanks!

  19. 1and1 has major system issues relative to domain name management. Often when we set auto-renew to OFF the system cancels our, recently registered, domain names then everyone you talk tries to make you seem stupid. This has happened a few times and the first couple of times we gave 1and1 the benefit of the doubt (hey, nobody is perfect, maybe we did make an error). But, this, the third, time we set the auto-renew for more than 20 recently registered domain names to off and the system cancelled our domain names. Several emails and phone conversations later, our issue is being forwarded to the “Transfer Team”. Simply, 1and1 has a system issue that, of course, they cannot admit to. Overall, since 2003, they have not been too bad in terms of other services. Oh, by the way, 1and1 has FORCED us to pay for domain names that we actually did cancel and the system did not cancel them! Why do we say FORCED? When you have more than 100 domains with a hosting provider, numerous websites, and several business/product channels depending upon them, the last thing you want to do is have your contract terminated as a result of non-payment. Oh yes, finally, we will begin a methodical transfer away from 1and1; at least for most or primary domains.

  20. I complained to 1&1 about being charged for web addresses Imahd previously cancelled. They completely ignored my complaint and implied that it was my fault and not there’s.

    They even give me the wrong contact details to make the complaint in the first place and I had to chase again, I complained ro their CEO Robert Hoffman, who also ignored my email.

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